ALBUM REVIEW: JOON – DREAM AGAIN

Maltese musician and producer Joon has been leading the way in her country when it comes to electronica.  Growing up in Malta without any other Maltese musical role models, Joon (real name Yasmin Kuymizakis), started mucking around on stylaphones and a beatbox, and the spark was lit.  Embarking on a production course in London, a serious […]
‘Watch Me Break Apart’ is the brilliant debut album from Dead Nature, the new musical project of former Spring King man Tarek Musa. It’s a shimmering indie-pop album brimming with fuzzed up melodies and a firm DIY ethos, produced in Tarek’s own Musa Studio in Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle. We caught up with him to discuss […]

INTERVIEW: DEAD NATURE – FORMER SPRING KING BAND MEMBER TAREK MUSA IS BACK WITH ASTOUNDING DEBUT ALBUM

INTERVIEW: OH BABY – MANCHESTER/LONDON ELECTRO DUO WITH NEW ALBUM INSPIRED BY OMD, GARY NUMAN, HUMAN LEAGUE BUT WITH A MODERN TWIST ALL OF THEIR OWN

You hear about bands who have met at work, college, school etc, but not so much ones who met at a distant relatives funeral! That’s how Rick and Jen, distant cousins with musical aspirations, first began the electro powerhouse that would become Oh Baby. Now with the brilliant new album ‘Hey Genius’ out, we caught […]
Descendents are one of the most influential bands to have existed in the punk scene. Their classic album “Milo Goes To College” paved the way for the creation of pop-punk, and without it, the likes of Blink 182, Green Day, Sum-41 and The Offspring would not have been formed. The central figure in the band, […]

ALBUM REVIEW: DESCENDENTS – 9TH & WALNUT

LIVE REVIEW: DAMON ALBARN – MANCHESTER CENTRAL: MANCHESTER INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL

My first gig in eighteen months may have been in a socially distanced seated event, but blimey did it feel great to watch a live performance again. Every two years Manchester International Festival rolls around, and brings with it a feast of unique gigs, but none of us could have predicted just how unusual these […]
Francis Lung creates a timeless blend of psychedelic pop, which recalls the epic song writing of Elliott Smith, Harry Nilsson and Brian Wilson infused with a playful experimental edge, his new album ‘Miracle’ is bursting with melodies which take your ears to unexpected places. Formerly the bassist in WuLyf, Francis Lung is the moniker of  […]

INTERVIEW: FRANCIS LUNG

INTERVIEW: CATHAL COUGHLAN

Cathal Coughlan has with a new album, the brilliant ‘Song of Co-Aklan’, his first in ten years. Seamlessly blending his lyrical prowess with fine indie melodies, the former Fatima Mansions and Microdisney man has returned with possibly his greatest work yet. We caught up with him to find out what’s behind the making of one […]
Seeing Teenage Fanclub live again at the Academy 3 in 2018, reminded me just how uplifting music can be, well, their music at least. A large amount of time in my youth was spent listening to their records, whatever mood I was in, putting on a Teenage Fanclub album seemed to make the world that […]

ALBUM REVIEW: TEENAGE FANCLUB – ENDLESS ARCADE

ALBUM REVIEW: CATHAL COUGHLAN – SONG OF CO-AKLAN

“I could listen to Cathal Coughlan sing the phone book” said DJ John Peel many years ago, and he wasn’t wrong. Having done numerous Peel sessions over the years in his former bands Microdisney and Fatima Mansions, Coughlan’s distinctively rich vocals won the hearts of many. Fast forward to 2021 and Coughlan’s vocals still propel […]
They may have been part of the Creation Records scene in the early 90’s but The Telescopes are a band who have led the way in psychedelic swirling indie for over thirty years. Now very much the solo project of Stephen Lawrie, The Telescopes have a new album on the horizon, ‘Songs Of Love And […]

INTERVIEW: THE TELESCOPES